Flashback w/ Ryan

Down the memory lane

Trying to take over a city was hard work. Sometimes Ryan just wanted to bang his head on a wall and be done with it instead of having to deal with dishonest people in a cutthroat business, it’d be more pleasant. It was one of these days, the kind that everyone just collectively decided to fuck him over nothing. A bad client who refused to pay here, a supplier who decided to have a bitch fit there, paperwork that just seemed to pile up no matter how hard he tried to finish them. But now he was done with all that, it was the end of the day, all that was left for him to do was get drunk.

Things were about to look up now, he would have the chance to go to his beloved Neo, chat up with the bartenders, and more importantly, meet up with Johnny. His left hand was always down to get drunk with him, it was one of the boy’s traits he appreciated a lot. It wasn’t always he got to put some time aside just to waste time and bond with the people he called family, Ruby was to one he went to usually if he felt particularly lonely, but he’d make time for everyone if he could.

He made his way inside the club, greeting the bouncer cheerfully at the door, the music thrumming and people having fun all around, he liked to sit and watch the customers, observe the kind of clientele who seemed to frequent at any given time. He reached the bar, his bartender didn’t look to be overwhelmingly busy at the moment, but he was taking care of quite a few customers. Ryan scanned the bar until his eyes fell in the lonely figure of Johnny, who seemed to already have started the drunk fest without him.

Any noise he might have made was drowned by the music as slipped on the stool besides Johnny “Hey, I see you didn’t bother to wait for me, I’m hurt.” He said in greeting, a happy smile on his face disproving his words. He waved at the bartender once he saw him looking towards them, and wordlessly he was given a glass of vodka, the bottle being placed beside it. It’d be surprising if by now the whole of Enigma didn’t already know his tastes.

Down the memory lane

Johnny had started to drink already, but Ryan was happy to note the man wasn’t plastered yet. Drinking alone was all fine and could be a good pastime, but nothing compared to getting drunk with someone you liked. Having fun on its finest. Ryan took a gulp from his glass, a sound of appreciation on his lips. He always liked how his bartenders always kept the good stuff reserved for him. The perks of owning the place.

He chuckled at Johnny’s response, life of the party, yes. Be it an alcohol fueled party, or a bullet storm party. That’s a thing he liked, Johnny’s flexibility in how to animate parties. He leaned against the bar’s counter tipping his glass in a flirty greeting. “Sometimes, the people who come here are so worth the time” He finished with a saucy wink, before breaking the flirty mood with a laugh and drinking from his glass again.

His eyes turned towards the people dancing and making out in non-secluded corners, keeping an eye out for any suspicious movement in his club as he always did when he spent any amount of time there. It wasn’t that he thought anything would happen, but he did have his enemies. He did his best to keep Neo clean from any apparent influence with any crime organization, but the police had an awful fondness for poking their noses where they shouldn’t, not to mention the Bianchi.

He hummed in slight annoyance at Johnny’s question. “I wish. Today was not Ryan’s day, apparently. You know when everything seems to conspire together to work against you? That was pretty much what happened today.” He rolled his, his annoyance coming back briefly, before he downed the rest of his glass to make the bad feelings go away. “How about you, though? Everything went well with the hermanos?” He was sure Johnny would be sensible not to mention any nasty details in public like this, but he was curious how that job went.

Down the memory lane

Johnny was a curious thing. A violent man he took under his wing when he saw him as a lost boy with too much anger and no way to redirect it. At the time, Enigma was an idea, something that seemed impossible, but that never stopped him from trying. He didn’t have the influence that came from big names in the crime underworld, so he started from the bottom by recruiting anyone willing to listen to him. He offered the boy a chance, and in exchange he got one step closer to his ambition. All in all, Ryan thought he made the right choice, if the fact that they were sharing a drink in Ryan’s own night club was anything to go by.

And drink he did, Johnny matching him step by step, finishing his own glass at the same time as Ryan and quickly asking for another. He quickly prepared what he called a true fireball. Ryan accepted the shot glass happily. Johnny really knew his alcohol, so Ryan wasn’t afraid to take what he offered “To our ruined livers.” He said with a smiled lifting it in Johnny’s direction before downing in one go, the liquid burning his throat pleasantly, before settling the warmth that spread on his chest.

He had no doubts in Johnny’s skill to deal with those Spanish dogs, he actually had heard it went as well enough, their agreement once again in place, and it would probably stay like that until Ryan said so. But it was always better to hear the facts directly from the source, there were always some personal detail or another missing from second hand reports. “Heated uh? I hope I won’t have to deal with people complaining they can’t meet their quota because they’re missing some employees.” he said with a smirk, anyone who might be overhearing might think he was exaggerating, his voice giving an impression of sarcasm, but both of them knew it wasn’t unreasonable to think there were bodies involved.

Ryan filled his glass with Vodka again, the familiar taste of the alcohol burning his tongue as he took a sip. He watched with mild worry as Johnny put something on his own drink, it always worried him his left hand’s habit of running on drugs and alcohol, but he’d be the biggest hypocrite if he demanded Johnny to stop as he didn’t exactly treated his liver well. He was cut from his worries by Johnny’s question, he didn’t need to spell it out for Ryan to figure out about who he was referring to. Before he answered, Ryan downed his glass of Vodka, the thought of the white rats bringing a sour taste to his mouth, or maybe that was the fireball. “Yes, we need to worry. Have you seen them? Buying their way into power, killing anyone who disagree, manipulating the system like it’s their own sandbox. Thinking they can rule the word because they were born rich.” His words were spit out in bitterness, the distaste about the Bianchi clear in his voice. “Why? Do you think if we talked and touched butts everything would be fine?” It was an odd question for Johnny to ask, was he already drunk or he just wanted to see Ryan go into an angry rant?